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Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign-policy studies at the Cato Institute. He is the author of eight and the editor of ten books on international affairs
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Articles and Posts by Ted-galen-carpenter:

  • Conservative Leninists and the War on Terror(11)

    One long-standing hallmark of Western conservative thought is the emphasis on the rule of law. Earlier generations of conservatives understood that, without such constraints, liberty would be imperiled and a free society would ultimately descend into tyranny. As Lord Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

  • John McCain on Foreign Policy: Even Worse Than Bush(12)

    Over the years, John McCain has acquired a reputation as a maverick Republican. Independents and even some Democrats who loathe George W. Bush’s foreign-policy record seem to believe that McCain would be a significant improvement. In several GOP primaries earlier this year, most notably those in New Hampshire and Michigan, nearly one third of voters who stated that they oppose the Iraq war cast ballots for McCain. That seems to defy logic, since the Arizona senator has been the most vocal critic of Bush’s Iraq policy, arguing as far back as late 2003 that he should commit even more troops to the war.

  • John McCain on Foreign Policy: Even Worse Than Bush(0)

    The last thing that America needs is an even more aggressive and incompetent steward of foreign policy than George W. Bush has been.

  • Modern Chinese Secret?(5)

    Beijing announced in early March that it plans to boost China’s defense budget by 17.8 percent in the coming year. That fairly hefty increase continues a pattern of double-digit hikes over the past decade. Both the United States and China’s neighbors in East Asia are expressing growing uneasiness about the trend.

  • Instinct for the Capillaries: The 9-11 Commission Report(0)

    The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9-11 Commission) released its report to much media fanfare in late July. Although the commissioners labored mightily, they have given birth to a mouse. The report is safe, cautious, and eminently bipartisan. In other words, it largely avoids discussing the most serious issues surrounding the threat that radical Islamic terrorism poses to America.